The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Portrait of a kneeling holy man, from the Prince Salim Album

Portrait of a kneeling holy man, from the Prince Salim Album

c. 1556–60; border c. 1602

attributed to Mir Sayyid Ali

(Persian, active in India, 1555–1580)
Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper, laid down on an album page with cream borders decorated with gold flowers and geometric motifs
Painting: 12 x 7.1 cm (4 3/4 x 2 13/16 in.); Overall: 23.3 x 14.9 cm (9 3/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.295
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

In this sensitive portrayal of a charlatan holy man, the eyes are pale and empty.

Description

One of the few surviving works that appear to have been made by an artist brought from Iran by Akbar’s father, Humayun, shortly after his arrival in Mughal India, this page was mounted into the Prince Salim Album in his breakaway court in Allahabad. The flowing lyrical contour lines, penetrating expression, and soft yet wiry texture of the beard reveal the hand of a master. The verse written above and below the painting is a quotation from a poetic sermon of the Persian author Sana’i, who lived about 1100: If it were greed that led you to acquire learning, then be afraid, For at night, a thief with a torch can take away the choicest goods! The calligraphy suggests that the kneeling figure is a charlatan holy man who wears the blue robe of a Sufi mystic and acts with humility and piety for monetary gain rather than sincerity of devotion.
  • Before 1962
    Collection of Hagop Kevorkian [1872–1962], New York
    6 December 1967
    Sotheby’s, London, Highly Important Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures: The Property of the Kevorkian Foundation, lot 47
    2013–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Mace, Sonya Rhie. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D. Giles Limited, 2016. Reproduced: cat. no. 2, p. 308, figure 4.34, p. 161; mentioned: pp. 161-62 and 309.
  • Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (7/31/2016-10/23/2016) Art and Stories from Mughal India, cat. 2, p. 161.
    On loan to the San Diego Museum of Art (2005)
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a kneeling holy man, from the Prince Salim Album|url=false|author=Mir Sayyid Ali|year=c. 1556–60; border c. 1602|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.295